Too much chatter off the field hurt Bangladesh in the recently-concluded World Cup, said Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director and former captain Akram Khan. 

Bangladesh won only two out of nine matches and it was statistically their worst World Cup campaign since 2003.

“No way [Bangladesh had a good World Cup]. I don’t think Bangladesh had a worse World Cup than this. We had high expectations and we had good preparation to back that up. [We started planning] four years ago. The conditions were also the same,” he said.

The Tamim Iqbal saga rocked Bangladesh cricket before the tournament and captain Shakib Al Hasan gave a sensational interview where he called his long-time teammate and friend selfish. Akram reckons these non-cricketing issues led to Bangladesh’s undoing.

“If so much non-cricketing talks happen ahead of such a tournament, there is no way a team can do well. The Asia Cup was a good preparatory stage but we failed to build a good team for the World Cup. Too much experiment led to Bangladesh’s failure.”

“I have always seen that there is too much non-cricketing chatter before a major tournament [in Bangladesh]. That’s why everyone feels pressure,” he said.